1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to nutritional supplements.
2. Background Information
Recent research indicates that polyphenols in fruits, vegetables, common beverages and plants possess the capacity for diversified, beneficial pharmacological activities. It is widely accepted that these compounds, recently dubbed xe2x80x9cvitamin Pxe2x80x9d, possess a wide range of beneficial pharmacological activities which include stabilizing capillary wall tissues, maintaining proper permeability and flexibility of capillaries, and preventing cardiovascular diseases. Numerous studies have also shown that most plant polyphenols possess cancer preventive capacity because of their profound antioxidant activity.
It is, of course, well-known that coffee contains caffeine. However, a lesser-known fact is that coffee contains potentially highly beneficial condensed tannin and polyphenolic acids.
Phenolic acids in coffee are mainly esters of quinic acid with different amount of caffeyl groups attached to its different positions. The phenolic acids present in coffee such as chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, para-coumaric acid and eugenol have been shown to exert cancer preventive activities in animal models. Chlorogenic acid has also been found to inhibit methylazoxymethanol-induced large intestinal tumors in hamster.
Chlorogenic acid, which is the main phenolic acid in coffee, is able to protect the gastric mucosa against irritations, and, therefore, improves the digestibility of foods, beverages and medicaments. The improved digestibility is expressed through a much-reduced systemic acid secretion (such as causes heartburn, etc.), which has been found to be directly dependent on an increased level of chlorogenic acid content in raw green coffee beans.
Normally the natural chlorogenic acid content of green coffee is reduced by approximately 40 to 80% during conventional roasting process. Analysis by the present inventor indicates that green coffee beans which initially contain 8% phenolic acids contain, respectively, 2% phenolic acids when light roasted, 1% when medium roasted, and less than 0.5% when dark roasted. This clearly represents a significant loss of beneficial compounds. Thus, the use of a roasting process which is designed to preserve the polyphenols normally lost through the roasting process will result in a product which has concentrations of phenolic compounds in greater quantities than currently marketed coffee beverages.
The resulting beverage will also be a source of diterpenes which have detoxification properties in humans, as well as other beneficial compounds such as triterpenes.
Extensive research by the present inventors produced a finding that post-processing chlorogenic acid content in particular, and total polyphenol content in general, can be substantially enhanced for brewed coffee through a remarkably simple process. The same is true of other brewed beverages the counterpart substrates of which are known to have a significant polyphenolic constituent. Therefore, while the predominant discussion in this specification focuses on coffee, it must be understood that similar results can be obtained through practice of the methods of the present invention in the context of producing beverages from other materials which naturally contain polyphenolic acids (teas, for example).
Both condensed tannin and polyphenolic acids in coffee beans have low water-solubility. According to experiments by the present inventors, under most circumstances, even hot water cannot significantly dissolve coffee polyphenols out of coffee. Something more than water at elevated temperatures applied at some rando0m point in coffee beverage making is required to most significantly enhance the extraction of coffee polyphenols out of coffee beans and powder.
The present inventors have discovered that, if applied in the manner prescribed herein, the remarkably simple process of soaking coffee beans in plain water prior to roasting, and, after roasting, xe2x80x9cquenchingxe2x80x9d the beans with a portion of the pre-soak liquid (the solvent water, plus the polyphenols released into the water) will substantially enhance the post-roasting polyphenol content of coffee beans. This represents yet another significant leap forward in the present inventors"" work in optimizing the post-processing polyphenol content of coffee as a means for delivering health-enhancing agents to consumers in a most non-intrusive and cost effective manner.
The process of the present invention, when compared with earlier, related processes developed by the present inventors, not only provides a substantial health benefits potential, but permits such benefits to be realized, and the product which carries the benefits to be distributed and sold, with no market or distribution related impediments or inconveniences. This is true, in part, because, unlike some of the referenced prior processes (the subject of first parent application relating to this continuation application) the process for spiking polyphenolics pursuant to the present invention, at least in the case of coffee, takes place at the commercial, roasting stage, rather than at the retail sales level and is, therefore, completely transparent to the end consumer.
Illustrative examples of processes of the present invention follow. It should be understood, of course, that commercial processing according to the present invention will take place on much larger scales than the illustrative examples provided, with proportional increases in the respective constituents (coffee beans, water, pre-soak liquid used for quenching, etc) for larger batches. The first described example is presently believed to be the optimal process for maximizing polyphenol content in coffee beans and ultimately, therefore, in brewed coffee.
According to the most economical version of the present invention, raw, green coffee beans are xe2x80x9cpre-soakedxe2x80x9d in water as described in more detail hereafter, and a portion (approximately 10% to 20%) of the same water is later used to quench the same beans immediately after roasting. However, as shown below, variations of the same invention involve pre-soaking green coffee beans, roasting other beans, and quenching the roasted beans with the solution from soaking the first, non-roasted beans. These later methods yield end products of even greater phenolics content.